


tell her that i miss our little talks

by usoverlooked



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-22
Updated: 2013-05-14
Packaged: 2017-12-06 02:11:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 5,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/730410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usoverlooked/pseuds/usoverlooked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore.<br/>(unconnected comment fics/things that will never be a complete story and how does one summarize that exactly?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. jeff and britta are (still) having secret sex

**Author's Note:**

> original prompt was: "Jeff/Britta; in 2x21 Abed never reveals their secret and they basically continue having secret sex"

For a second - a harrowing and seemingly long second - Britta thinks Abed is going to drop the bomb. She knows he knows, the boy's scary clever, but instead at the last minute he rattles off a fact about MASH. Her heart rate slows and the entire subject leaves her mind until that night.

  
"Did you think Abed was going to spill the beans?" Jeff asks as she collects her bra from the study room floor. It's terrible and dirty but after the whole ordeal the pair had ended up staying behind to 'find Britta's notebook'. 

  
"We're damn lucky he didn't," Britta replies as she shrugs her shirt on over her head. Jeff smiles at her, almost dopily. "Should we stop?"

  
"Do you want to?" Jeff asks. His voice is cautious, neither hopeful or disappointed. Britta shrugs in response, letting the former lawyer interpret it. He slides off the table. "Then we don't stop."

* * *

  
  
Shirley's popping out a baby in their anthropology class and Britta is trying to keep her hands from fluttering like a Southern belle while wondering when her life became this. Next to her, Jeff has his hands on her shoulders, trying to talk sense into her. She's vaguely aware of it, the way his hand brushes hair from her face.

"I can do this?" Her voice squeaks on the question. Looking around the room, she's vaguely aware that she has to do it. 

  
"Of course you can do it. What, were you planning on leaving all the doctoring to the men?" Jeff chides. Britta stills her hands and dives into the fray.

  
Later, when it's all done, she ends up at his apartment with hands still shaking. He kisses them until they stop and she calls him a sentimental goof. He leaves a hicky just above her bra as payback.

* * *

  
  
No one is surprised when another paintball war breaks out. The kids (and God, Britta hates thinking of them as that because really Abed's only like three years younger than her - but they are kids) squeal and run off. Shirley rolls her eyes and trudges off on her own, with Pierce and Chang unsuccessfully attempting to follow her. Somehow in the fray, Britta ends up trapped in the study room with Jeff.

  
"Well this is a nice parallel," Jeff comments. Off her glare, he holds his hands up in mock-surrender. "I'm just saying Abed would appreciate it. Paintball, the study room, us banging."

  
"Banging, really, Winger?" She narrows her eyes. In response, Jeff merely grabs her around the waist ('Hey!') and sets her on the table.

  
"I'll make up for my word choice," Jeff promises as he kneels down. Britta finds it difficult to argue after that.

* * *

  
  
The group is splitting up for the summer, although that means less because this year no one is threatening to move across the country or spilling words at a dance, when Jeff grabs her hand. It's simple and silly, a thing grade school students do. But it's there, in front of everyone they care about, making a stand. Britta knows she could tug away - there's a beat where only Abed sees and he's kept mum this long. Instead she squeezes his hand in response. They all seem to notice at once (due in part to Abed going 'cool, coolcoolcool' and pointing a finger gun at them) and Britta freezes. For a second - a harrowing and seemingly long second second - Jeff slips his hand out of hers. She knows him, knows this is probably too much, but instead he slips the arm around her waist.


	2. fragile little things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: "jeff/britta, i only want sympathy in the form of you crawling into bed with me" (plus the additional comment: all I want as a result from the britta helps jeff with his dad storyline")

It goes badly. Jeff expected no less because he's Jeff Winger and trying has always backfired like this for him. He's unsurprised because the second he walked in that door (William Winger with the wedding ring and the balding hair) it would backfire. But Britta was on his heels, heart still full of hope, so he tried. Now they drive to his apartment, silent save for the quiet noises of his car. She doesn't offer an apology, for which he's glad. In fact, she offers very little until they walk through his threshold.

"Let me help you," her voice is soft as she takes the box of junk his father gave him. Not pity, they're beyond that, but something like understanding. He wonders, more often than he'd care to admit, about her parents. Oh, he knows snippets of her and them, but not enough to piece anything together. When the box is placed on the counter, she continues to fiddle with it, her shoulders shaking.

"Britta," he touches her shoulder and she turns. A shaky smile fills her face.

"Shit, isn't this stupid? I mean, he's your dad and..." She bites her lip. "I'll kick his ass if you want."

He shakes his head. A beat passes and if they were different people - though braver or more cowardly, he's unsure - they'd stop this, pull away. But they are who they are, some odd crossroad of fearful and strong. Her lips find his, easily, like singing along to a favorite old song when it comes up on a long drive. His hand curls into her hair, the other gripping at the back of her shirt. Her hands loop around his neck, almost holding him in place as if she's afraid he will slip away if she doesn't.

"I'm like him," Jeff whispers. He says it half believing it, half needing her to correct him. She pulls away.

"Jeff, you're a lot of things, a lot of bad things even, but you aren't like him," Britta unbuttons his shirt as she speaks, lips trailing his jaw, down his throat to his collarbone. There's not much gentleness in it, but there never is with them. Gentleness is reserved for those who need it, but they need everything else. They need truth and pain and someone unafraid to face what lies in the other person. Jeff pulls Britta up, her legs hooking around his waist. They stumble towards the bedroom. He bumps them into the door frame and she laughs, falling away from him. Jeff grabs her again, kissing her hard. She tastes inexplicably of oranges and something he has never been able to place. 

It goes slowly. Like they're both a little afraid the other will stop it. Neither does.


	3. cohabitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: "Jeff/Britta - roommates"

Shockingly, Jeff ends up violating his housing contract. Or maybe his landlord kicks him out because his wife sort of had a thing for Jeff. Either way, Jeff ends up as something of a hobo, with a bad reputation that leaves any apartment he attempts to rent refused. He tries staying with Shirley but wakes up with a Tonka truck and a child on him. Casa Trobednie (or is it Antrobed? He remembers a Twitter contest on the subject but not its results) is out because he just can’t deal with living there. Pierce seems to think Jeff is trying to hit on him when he inquires about renting one of the rooms, so he’s left with one option.  
  
“No,” Britta keeps walking as he explains his dilemma. Lucky for Jeff, she’s tiny and he can keep up with her pace easily.  
  
“I will pay rent,” Jeff tries. Britta ignores his plea. “I will cook.”  
  
Britta’s eyebrow rises, but no further agreement.  
  
“We could carpool places.”  
  
Britta slows and turns to look at Jeff, who grins at the interest.  
  
“You’ll buy kitty litter?” She asks. At his look of surprise, she explains. “It’s expensive and heavy.”  
  


* * *

  
Living with Britta is painfully easy. He’s had roommates in the past and ordinarily found it a pain. There was always something about it that bothered him, whether it was the roommates’ weird habits or their friends they had over. But with Britta, he already knows her weird habits (the fact that she always has to have commercials muted or her mood instantly sours) and her friends are actually his friends.  
  
“Stir fry?” Britta calls from her dingy couch. From in the kitchen, Jeff smiles and shouts back an affirmation. He listens for a beat and it is silent, which after two weeks of living together he knows to recognize as a sign of happiness at whatever he’s chosen for a meal.  
  
“You like having me here,” Jeff points out as the pair sit on her couch. Between the two of them sits a bowl of popcorn and a box of M&M’s. Britta makes a noncommittal response and Jeff bumps her ankle with his foot.  
  
“I’ve suffered worse fates,” Britta comments as she mutes a commercial.  
  


* * *

  
It takes a month before they slip. It’s longer than Jeff expected it would take, if he’s being entirely honest. But they’re arguing about whether Britta’s cat Reginald likes her or Jeff better. It’s a pointless argument (the answer is actually Annie because all cats love Annie for some reason) but by the time either of them realize they’re knee-deep in the debate. It’s Britta who does it, closes that stupidly large gap between the pair, after a particularly devastating repartee from Jeff. She stands flummoxed for a minute. But then, she dives forward (Jeff actually flinches – afraid she’s going to punch him in the shoulder) and captures his lips with her own.  
Shockingly, Jeff ends up staying. He keeps expecting something to go wrong, and it does – minor things, but nothing sticks. Although, when they eventually move to a better apartment, the pair has to use Britta’s name. Apparently, his former landlord still manages to blackball Jeff’s good name.


	4. a favor or two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: "Jeff/Britta - some time far down the line Britta needs a lawyer"

Britta delays making the call as long as she can. In fact, she calls Abed and Shirley before calling him. Both of her friends tease her – Abed passes the phone around Apartment 303 so they can all get in on it – before sympathizing and insisting she call Jeff.  
  
“You’ve reached Jeff Winger, attorney at law and Britta Perry drinking buddy, how may I direct your call?” Jeff’s smirk shines through the phone and Britta realizes that he already knows.  
  
“Jeff, do I really have to say it?” She groans and pinches the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “I think you already know.”  
  
“I just am shocked that a doctor, an upstanding member of our society would do such a thing.”  
  
“If you don’t cut it out, my foot is going to be an upstanding member of your… Wait, no, that doesn’t make sense,” She stops herself and can hear Jeff laugh over the phone line. “C’mon, I can pay you; I just need you to sleaze my way out of this.”  
  
“You reformed me, Britta. No longer do I ‘sleaze’, now I help. Making me a better person was the worst decision of your life. Well, aside from-“  
  
“I’ll sleep with you!” She shrieks, desperate in part to keep from hearing of her crimes again. Silence falls on the other end of the line. Britta hems and haws about revoking the statement.  
  
“You don’t have to do that,” Jeff’s voice is softer. “Look, I’m just giving you shit, I know the judge who will end up with this and he’s a friend, I’ll explain it to him. Other than that, I’ll do what I can to keep it from leaking to your clients.”  
  


* * *

  
  
Britta starts bringing him lunch on Thursdays to make up for him cashing in on favors for her. At first she gets him salads and wraps. But as her court date looms closer, she starts splurging on huge hamburgers and finally a steak.  
  
“You didn’t have to bribe me, y’know,” Jeff says, although he waits to mention this until he is three-fourths done with the steak. Britta shrugs, but before she can comment further, Jeff’s door bursts open.  
  
“Oh sorry, I didn’t realize your girl was in,” a man comments. Britta turns to look at him. He’s tall, with a comically over-sized mustache. From Jeff’s descriptions, Britta realizes this is his boss – Ernie.  
  
“I’m not his girl,” Britta points out. She realizes, belatedly, that it would appear that way. She sits on Jeff’s desk with her foot in his chair next to him. Aside from that, she’s brought him lunch for the past five weeks. The man raises his eyebrow and Jeff pinches her leg. “I mean, I am, but the idea of a man owning a woman gives me the heebie-jeebies.”  
  
The man laughs and lets himself back out, telling Jeff he will come by later. As soon as the door swings shut, Britta spins on Jeff.  
  
“Look, all the other guys have wives and like 2.5 children and mortgages. All I have is a bunch of sitcom-style college stories from two years ago and a pretty girl who repeatedly brings me lunch on Thursdays. I needed an in or Ernie was going to think I was weird,” Jeff explains. Britta narrows her eyes, but can’t find it in her heart to be offended.  
  
“I’m the best damn girlfriend you’ve ever had and my career is like a percentage point better than yours. If anyone asks,” she says and holds out her hand, waiting for him to take the deal. He smiles and shakes it.  
  


* * *

  
  
In the end, Britta ends up with a warning and little other consequences, due in large part to Jeff. After the ordeal is over, she keeps bringing him lunch. She also sleeps with him eventually, but that’s not to clear her name. Britta ends up going to dinners for his law firm with him. He refers to her as the best damn girlfriend and her career is a percentage point better than his. In April, they call Abed and Shirley to announce their engagement. Both of their friends tease them.


	5. metronomy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: "Jeff/Britta, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once."

In September, Jeff notices her because she’s pretty. Oh, she isn’t proud about it – simple clothes, simple make-up, a pair of ratty shoes – but she knows it. In fact, when they’re studying (really studying for once, over a cup of coffee for him and a cup of green tea for her) she calls him out on it. Mentions, almost in passing, that guys usually just buy her a drink instead of going through the elaborate ruse of taking a foreign language, rounding up a study group and offering tutoring skills. Adds that sometimes just mentioning how pretty she is works – on her bad days, she adds. She goes back to her work – conjugating – and though he will never be able to pinpoint it (though he will try time and again) this is the moment it starts. His gravity shifts, stupidly so, to this blonde girl with a hurt ego and an oversized heart.  
  
By December, Jeff has accepted that she will only ever be his friend. It’s the way of life and he’s fine with it – truly. But there’s a Sunday where she texts him for a ride to a free art show (‘will not pay for gas but will provide you w/ culture. c’mon winger’) and she piles into his car, smelling of oranges and summer to the point of him gripping the steering wheel white-knuckled. He’s afraid of what stupidly romantic gesture he may make if he doesn’t.  
  
Come April, Jeff has moved on. She laughs too loud and they hardly agree on anything anyways. Except sometimes she gets going on something – usually some dumb protest she wants to be at but is instead stuck at Greendale – and Jeff has to fiddle with his phone to keep from capturing her lips with his. Her cheeks get so rosy and all he can think of is how she would pull back for a moment before returning and then he usually ends up studying because the only thing that can distract him from that line of thinking is the threat of failing a class at a community college. Every time he aces a test, it usually coincides with protests in places like Washington or Los Angeles, interestingly enough.  
  
May happens and Jeff just sort of tosses his hands in the air and accepts that he’s in love with her. She’s a force of nature, a damned hurricane and he’s a boat in the ocean. He was halfway there all year, but the stupid paintball tournament did him in. When he’s a lawyer again, he’s suing this school for emotional distress. Or some less sissy term for that, he’ll figure it out later. But this girl dives across a barricade of tables and takes a bullet for him. Jeff comes back to their study group the next day and can’t look at her. Won’t look at her because looking at her makes him stupidly sentimental.  
  
(Abed will later ask, when he calls him after too many beers for sobriety and too few for a booty call, if it was then or when him and Britta hooked up that Jeff fell for her. It was then, when Britta ran over in a blaze of sunshine and guts. He starts to tell Abed this but ends up sounding smaltzy and says that it was both or something.)  
  
All of this happens and Jeff finds himself in love with this girl who tries too hard and pushes him without even trying. But worst of all, she grabs a microphone and tells him she loves him. So Jeff does the only thing he can. He runs away.


	6. oh where is my mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: "Annie/Abed - It's far too easy getting caught up in these fantasies"

Annie's the romantic lead and Abed's the comedic relief. The two never end up together. But it doesn't stop the mind from wandering.  
  
The pair of them, travelling across Europe with only a few Euros, a backpack and an outdated treasure map that leads to nowhere. Abed stopping her as she walks down the aisle, holding a stereo outside her window. Annie coming to him in the rain and professing her feelings, kissing him as they get their diplomas at Greendale. They're stupid, stereotypical and uninspired ideas. But somehow when it's the two of them, they never seem that way. The most cliched romantic comedy plot-line seemed interesting, if only it were switched to star them.  
  
These thoughts, these stupidly hopeful ideas, cycle the mind before slumber. It's a bad habit, but it's one Annie can't bring herself to want to break.


	7. these sick little games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unprompted, future fic.

“Did you win?” Britta asks. He stares down at her, trying to figure out how to answer. It’s one of the most loaded questions she could have asked, yet he knows the answer. It’s a stupidly simple answer.

Around them, the party continues on. Someone cheers and Annie laughs across the room. It’s nice now, that Annie never gets jealous about Jeff and Britta, or what they used to be. Shirley shouts something, but it’s lost on the pair. Britta fiddles with the glass in her hand, waiting for the answer.

“You dated Troy,” Jeff answers. It’s not the answer to her question, yet it is. It’s a plea, the only request he can possibly make. He could never verbalize it, it would break every unspoken rule they’ve made. Britta laughs, rolls her eyes.

“I also dumped Troy. This is different. You know it is,” her voice breaks on the last word and she makes a face. For a moment, he thinks she might actually cry, but when she looks back up at him, there’s no sign of it. “Do you love her?”

He remembers, years ago, when she asked such a similar question of him. But everything was different then – easier, happier. He was different then too, maybe braver, maybe more of a coward – depends who you asked.

“I make her happy,” Jeff answers. Once again, it’s not the answer to her question. Britta nods, as if it answers more than what she asked. She stands on tiptoe, kisses his cheek. Britta turns to go, but Jeff catches her arm before she can.

“I didn’t win,” he answers finally, quiet and ashamed. “We both lost.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kate prompted: "Jeff/Britta: breakfast, lunch, dinner"

Dinner ends up being a drink at the Red Door on a particularly bad Thursday and somehow one drink becomes seven and Britta finds herself thumbing through her phone contacts bleary-eyed and lonely. It rings twice before he picks up (and it’s 12:09 am so he sounds dazed and sweet and God she can just see him - mussed hair, half watching an episode of some cop show) and she hums tunelessly until he does.

“I want to make you breakfast,” she blurts this, ignoring his jab about this being a bootycall, “and I don’t, I don’t mean because I’m there in the morning, I mean because I want it to be this stupid thing that we do, like it’s just us and you steal my favorite part of the paper and peel the oranges for me and I steal your coffee even though I have tea and I’ve never wanted that with anyone so I just-“

Britta stops, realization seeping through her bones, and clicks the red button, cheeks burning and heart climbing its way to her throat - afraid of what else would spill out nearly as much as she’s afraid of his reaction.

He knocks on her door the next day, at 11:47 am, and she sheepishly answers - clad in stupidly long pajama pants and a t-shirt from a band that she used to love - to find him holding up two boxes of Chinese.

“Is that lunch?”

“It’s breakfast.”


	9. forever girl - t/an

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: "Troy/Annie, _i've been on my knees and crawling back to you; it's all coming back to me_ "

Annie ends up floating away and Troy ends up staying in Greendale. In high school, before she was Adderall Annie, when she was just Annie, everyone knew this was how the story ended. She was the go-getter, the girl who would end up doing things, and he was peaking right before their eyes. Except, at Greendale it all changed. He was someone and so was she - equals, in a sense. But graduation crept up on them and Troy's 2.9 GPA suddenly seemed like a joke compared to her 4.3 GPA and it all went back to how it was.  
  
(There were moments - in that last semester, without Jeff looming behind her - when Troy would think about asking her to dinner or a movie, with an ulterior motive. Except, it felt like that would be some huge motion to make - some huge wave that would crush the study group in its path - especially after Britta. So he sat on his hands and thought of other things.)  
  
Troy finds himself in Chicago, looking at cheap apartments, when he bumps into her. She smiles that million watt smile and offers to let him stay in her place - she has a place now, along with a career - until he figures things out. They're standing on the corner of a busy street, the traffic an apt soundtrack to this moment, and he can't figure out a reason why not so he accepts the offer.  
  
(There are moments - in the months that follow as he stays in her living room, feeling oddly at home - when he wonders what her friends must think. They never ask him who he is to her, so she must have explained, but what did she say - old college friend, surely, but did she giggle or nudge them or those things girls do that mean so much more than whatever statement they actually made. He never asks them, never oversteps that boundary, but he wonders.)  
  
Troy discovers Annie. Not the Annie who was infatuated with Jeff Winger, or addicted to Adderall, or so unsure of her own skin, but the real Annie. She still likes Mark Ruffalo, but she also likes scary movies - some nights they marathon the Scream movies and Skype Abed in - and still keeps notecards. Annie learns him too, he realizes. One night, when Christmas break is coming and his students are especially wild, she makes him terrible cake. Over the apologies and laughter at how awful it turned out - blackened on one side and flat on the other - she manages to explain that he mentioned it was his favorite thing that his mother used to make.  
  
(There are moments - when it's too late or too early and she's midway through explaining something he wouldn't care about if anyone else were talking - when he nearly kisses her. It makes his throat close up and his fingers itch, how badly he wants to tuck her hair behind her ears as she finishes some report at six in the morning - when he's heading out to work and she's going in at noon.)  
  
Troy gets offered a job in Seattle. He applies and gets called for a job interview before he tells Annie. Her smiles seems a bit smaller and he tries simultaneously not to overthink it and not to underthink it - it makes his head hurt most days. The day he leaves for the interview, she leaves for work hours before she usually does. On their counter sits a Tupperware container - one piece of cake, well-made and beautiful sits inside it. There's no note, no smiley face, no indication of anything aside from the cake. Troy still cancels the interview and has to figure out how to refund the plane ticket.  
  
(There are moments - when they are old and grey and have tan lines on their ring fingers - when Annie asks him if he ever thinks about if he had gotten that job. He always says no, which is true - thinking about some other path, some darker timeline, only hurts him so he never thinks of it.)  
  
Troy waits until she gets home that night. She is not nearly surprised enough that he's there. Nor is she surprised when he tucks her hair behind her ear - muttering something about waiting a long time for that - and kisses her.


	10. noir (1940s au)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: Troy/Annie - Partner & Houlihan Detective Agency

"They'll start coming," Troy promises one night as they're closing up. Annie sucks hard on her cigarette without answering. Next to her, Troy takes out a cig of his own - holding it up to hers until it lights from it. He takes a drag and blows the smoke out into her face. Annie coughs.  
"What if they don't? We've got nada as it is," Annie leans against the door, watching the smoke trail into the sky. Troy shrugs next to her, as if it doesn't matter - though it does, her stockings have runs and his coat pockets are wearing out.  
"C'mon, Houlihan, we always figure it out. We'll pull a stunt, call up the cats or Big Cheddar if we need to," Troy says. The streetlight flickers and Troy can just make out the outline of Annie shaking her head.  
"We're done with that life. You promised me," she pouts as she speaks. Troy tosses an arm around her waist.  
"We'll figure it out. We always do, hot lips," Troy plants a kiss in her hair. "Enough of that, let's dance our way back home, dollface."  
It's silly, but it's enough to make Annie laugh, spinning in his arms as they find their way back home.


	11. abed knows best - t/an

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Troy/Annie or Troy&Annie, five-year high school reunion,

"I'm not," Annie insists, voice going shrill. She wrings her hands over each other and bites her lip. "I mean, maybe a little bit, but not enough to count."  
"There has to be something I can do," Troy says as he moves a stack of books to another shelf, handing a few to Annie. She sifts through them, pulling one close to her and passing the rest back to him.  
"It's just that when I said I'd go, I had like, a book deal and a fiancee and I was going to open houses for actual houses and now I'm-" Annie stops to motion around in frustration, making an indescript noise as she does. Troy smiles and Annie gasps at his reaction. "Don't laugh at me!"  
"I'm not, it's just... You looked like you used to back at Greendale for a minute there," Troy comforts. He swallows hard, turning his attention to the stack of books before him. "You're still really awesome, y'know? I mean, someone will pick up your book and your fiancee was kind of a huge douche anyways and..."  
"And living with your college friends five years later is chic?" Annie says bitterly. Troy shrugs.  
"I still like you," he says simply and Annie blushes slightly. "Y'know what Abed thinks we should do?"  
"Pretend to be married," Annie answers, a laugh bubbling out. Troy nods, shifting the books from one hand to another. "What, you think it's worth a shot? I mean, I always pictured your proposal a little more romantic."  
"You can wear my letterman jacket," Troy teases and Annie bites her lip again.  
"That'd be nice," Annie says. Her voice goes shrill again, for an entirely different reason.


	12. the shaman - j/b

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: Jeff/Britta - Greendale Parents

"This is all Abed's fault," Britta crosses her arms over her stomach. Jeff quirks an eyebrow at her but before he can comment, Britta kicks his leg half-heartedly. "Shut up, I mean he jinxed us. That whole 'Greendale parents', making us play his mom and dad thing, it's on him."  
"Abed is a shaman," Jeff admits and Britta rolls her eyes. Laughing, Jeff drops a hand onto Britta's knee. "So who's telling them?"  
Britta taps a finger to her nose and Jeff groans - he'll have to tell the study group. As the bell rings, the group filters into the room - Annie and Shirley knitting a scarf around Pierce's neck as he walks in, Troy and Abed wearing one jacket and the Dean leaning in the doorway with no explanation. As they sit - save the Dean, who sort of wafts in and meanders about the table, stopping near Jeff - Abed peers at Jeff and Britta studiously. The group quiets and before Jeff can announce anything, Abed makes a keening noise. Everyone turns to the boy, begging an explanation.  
"Baby arc, baby arc, baby arc. Are we jumping the ship?" Abed turns urgently to Britta. Jeff pinches the bridge of his nose while Shirley and Annie shriek at the proclamation.  
"Most people just say 'congrats'," Jeff says slowly as the girls and the Dean converge on Britta happily. Abed's gaze flickers to Jeff before giving a small smile and congratulations.  
"Wait," Troy puts in. "Is Jeff pregnant?"


	13. beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: Shirley and Jeff- AU in which Jeff's family doesn't move after the foosball humiliation. When Shirley ears he's had "appendicitis", she decides to do something nice for him.

When the doorbell rang, Jeff had to hide his excitement. Most of his class had visited but he still held out hope that one girl, Michelle Ann, would stop by. She never paid Jeff much mind, but maybe an injury - a surgery - would change that. Craning his neck, Jeff saw his mother's back and nothing else. He drummed his fingers on his knee and settled back down into the couch. Someone approached - not his mother, he'd recognize her footsteps - and Jeff focused on looking miserable.  
"I'm sorry," the voice was most definitely not Michelle Ann. He turned, too sharply for a boy who supposed had a surgery and found Big Cheddar. Her shirt had a hole near the shoulder and she ran her hands over each other, not looking at him.  
"I could sue you," Jeff said, staring at her steadfastly. At that, Big Cheddar blanked, looking up at him with eyes the size of saucers behind her glasses.  
"You couldn't either," she said. Her face scrunched in concentration. "Could you?"  
"Maybe," Jeff shrugged. "I'm going to be a lawyer when I grow up and I'll look it up then."  
Big Cheddar seemed to shrink and Jeff sighed heavily.   
"Maybe I won't though," he added. "If you do something nice for me."  
"That's not how friends work," Big Cheddar said and Jeff stared at her. She rolled her eyes annoyedly. "We could be friends or something."  
"I don't need you to be my friend," Jeff said. "Unless you want to be."  
"I could use a friend who's a lawyer," Big Cheddar smiled nervously and Jeff returned the sentiment. She held out a hand. "I'm Shirley."  
"I'm Jeff," he said, shaking her hand.


	14. Intro to Textual Conversation - gen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original prompt: Jeff, Britta, Abed - literally anything, but I would probably propose on the spot if it was something about Abed and Britta bickering over who misses Jeff more and Jeff getting sappy over it
> 
>  
> 
> (p.s. she didn't propose, thanks Kate.)

__**from: Britturbed**  
abed is lying  
 **from: Winger**  
???  
 **from: Britturbed**  
nvm. if abed says anything, he's lying!!  
 **from: Winger**  
i'll keep that in mind.  
  
 **from: The Shaman**  
britta is crying. misses you.  
 **from: Jeff**  
ahhh this clarifies an early messaage from her. thnx abed.  
 **from: The Shaman**  
ok. now would be a good time for a special guest appearance.  
 **from: Jeff**  
so you miss me too?  
 **from: The Shaman**  
more than she does. our 'platonic' love is more of a hole in the group than yours and brittas. you guys went without anything for a whole season, remember?  
 **from: Jeff**  
it's called a semester, not a season. also why the quote marks on platonic?  
 **from: The Shaman**  
there's ust between us. pierce felt it.  
 **from: Jeff**  
don't be weird about that w/ me. u have troy for that, abed.  
 **from: The Shaman**  
ok.  
  
 **from: Doe Eyes**  
Britta and Abed are in a brawl. Troy is crying bcuz no one will get along. Shirley has retreated to the sandwich stand. Please!!! Come fix it!!!  
 **from: Jeff Winger**  
sounds like u miss me. does troy wonder know??  
 **from: Doe Eyes**  
Ha. Don't flatter yourself, aside from other problems, you text like a twelve year old, Jeff. Troy and I are fine :)  
 **from: Jeff Winger**  
aside from him cryin about his bf and britta?  
 **from: Doe Eyes**  
He can be sensitive. Plus Britta has started spoiling movie endings, Abed is getting v. upset. Fix it!  
  
 **from: Winger**  
fine. u win, u miss me more. don't tell abed.  
  
 **from: Jeff**  
fine. u win, u miss me more. don't tell britta.


End file.
